What does an orchestrator do? Technically speaking, I create the orchestral score, which is the master plan of the music that is to be performed by an orchestra. The way I describe it in non-musical terms is that a composer is the master architect and the orchestrator is the associate architect. What this means is that it is up to the orchestrator to carry out the composer’s wishes based on the composer’s shorthand representation of the score. How did you become an orchestrator? I started as a composer. I went to Williams College, and then I came out here to the film-scoring program at USC. I studied music composition and orchestration privately with a number of different people. In my college years, I was primarily into jazz and avant-garde music. When I got out here, I started falling behind in my classical studies, so I became more well-versed in standard repertoire. Then I taught school and did gigs at jazz clubs and stuff like that, and I met a guy by the name of Pat Russ, who was working with Elmer Bernstein and Maurice Jarre at the time. He became my mentor and teacher. I proofread and started learning things as we went along. Pat would give me a sketch that he had already orchestrated and say, “Here, go orchestrate this.” So I would take the sketch, orchestrate it, and then I compare what he did to what I did. I would listen to the recording of what Pat had done and I would make notes about my own work. Pat was an important influence. I sort of modeled my career on what he was doing. So I started doing it, and now, I can’t afford not to do it. What was your first introduction to film music? “Star Wars”. But to go a step back, I used to ask my mom for the soundtrack albums to all these Disney movies, and I listened to them from the time I was two years old. So I guess I was listening to film music earlier than “Star Wars” but didn’t realize it. I was really interested in the instrumental music. It didn’t need words for me to take interest. How do several orchestrators on one project blend the styles in the score? You do hear differences in style, but teams of people who work together usually work out the details so that you don’t hear large contrasts when going from one orchestrator to the next. The orchestrator is responsible for being well-rounded. We are all trained similarly. Some of us have gone through traditional classical training, and some of us have worked with jazz ensembles and then gone back to study the classical literature and sort of bring a different set of skills to the table. Some orchestrators are known for their styles in jazz or classical, but we all have overlapping skills. We all speak the same language. You developed a good relationship with composer Christopher Young early in your career. How did this begin? I met Chris through a mutual friend, composer Dan Licht. I had just done a couple of films with Dan, who recommended me to Chris. I met Chris at the studio when he was recording the score for “Rapid Fire”. He asked me to consult with him for an arrangement that he was doing for a band. It was source music that was supposed to sound like Chicago blues. He asked me to look at it and offer my thoughts. I didn’t know anything about what authentic Chicago blues was. So I went to the library and listening to whatever music I could and decided that what he had done was pretty good. He called me up on his next film, “Jennifer 8”, because the orchestrator he was working with was tied up on another project and Chris needed somebody. Based on our brief experience with “Rapid Fire” and the referral from Dan Licht, he used me for the project, and I have been with him ever since. How difficult is it to change gears between genres or composers and find that right voice? When I have to change gears and go into different musical worlds, it is a slow start for me. Chris is one of those guys who listens to records all the time. He has this voracious appetite for different types of music. He listens to music and absorbs it, and it starts coming out in his scores. So how do I adapt to it? I have to listen to some of the music he listens to. If I get something that I am completely unfamiliar with, I’ll ask him about it, and he will refer me to his source. A lot of times you are just expected to know. For example, I worked with James Newton Howard on “Signs”, and the very first time I heard the main title, I pulled out all my Stravinsky recordings and started listening to them just to get that stuff back in my head. The whole job is about styles. So, I listen to the music and I refresh my memory, filling my head with that kind of sound. Then I start working on the project. I need to determine what are the critical elements and what are the instruments and so on. I need to make sure I have all that covered before I start on a project. In the case of “Rounders”, Chris basically dictated to me what all the orchestrations will be, so there’s not a whole lot for me to do. What I have to do is make sure that I have taken his shorthand sketch, which is on only six or eight lines, and made it work as a thirty-two line score, with everything voiced properly. As for decisions about whether it’s strings or woodwinds, he has pretty much made most of those. Some composers may leave more to me. What is tough is when you are working on two different projects from two different composers. A cue from one project may be an about-face – a totally different musical world – from a cue from another project. I work with people who have different tastes of concepts about the way it should be done. Some want the whole orchestra busy. Some like it to be very still, their concept being that it should be about subtle color differences. So that part can be jarring. It can be almost schizophrenic. Do you take on multiple projects simultaneously? Well, I try not to, but the way our business works now is that projects come up so fast that rarely is there time for an orchestrator to do a whole film. Years ago, when I first started out, the composer would work four to six weeks, and I would get a steady stream of sketches that I would orchestrate. So, at the end of the project, I would’ve worked on the whole thing myself. But now, films require that scores get orchestrated in a shorter period of time and, thus, I have to work on more films just to keep the business going. So, yes, I work on more than one film at a time because I work on a small part of one film at a time. You are also one of the most sought-after conductors in the industry. How do you balance your orchestrating and conducting projects? Obviously, I can’t be at more than one recording studio at a time. Fortunately, a lot of the people I work with have the same contractor, Sandy DeCrescent, who sets up great scheduling. Usually, I can go from one place to the next without missing out on projects because I am scheduled somewhere else. James Newton Howard’s “Dinosaur”, “Atlantis”, and “Treasure Planet” were big Disney animation projects. How challenging were these scores for you in comparison to other scores that you have worked on? I think they were challenging for everybody. They were one-hundred-plus-piece orchestras, and they were big, thematic-based scores that were old-fashioned in the sense that they were so dramatic and carried the films. A lot of films aren’t like that these days. They were great and rousing and from one of the best young composers, and we had the best players and orchestrators, which was just glorious. It sounded wonderful. When you’re orchestrating these scores, it’s slow-going because there’s so much music that you have to get on the page. Big music is a lot of work, and it takes a lot of hours to orchestrate it. It is difficult, but the payoff is that you have all this fun music for the orchestra to play and you get this huge sound. What are your favorite projects that you have worked on? I had a great time working on “Signs” by James Newton Howard. I had a great time working with John Debney on “The Scorpion King”, which had the old-fashioned approach where the music is so heavily involved in the movie. That was just a great time and a wonderful score. The three James Newton Howard Disney scores were absolutely fabulous. I had a wonderful time conducting for Danny Elfman on “Spider-Man”. With Chris Young, I had a terrific time working on “The Core”, which was a big production. Another thing that was fun about this film is that Jon Amiel and Chris have such a great collaboration. Jon communicates what he wants very well to Chris, and Chris is very responsive to Jon. It is gratifying and fun to watch what they do. Chris writes the score but he gets a lot of input from Jon, and I think that what they come up with is better than what either of them would do on their own. My favorite scores are often the result of a long-going composer-director relationship. Christopher Young’s music is tremendous anyway, but his work on Jon Amiel’s scores have some little extra touch that I love. It’s the same thing with James Newton Howard when he works with Lawrence Kasdan or Michael Hoffman. I don’t know what it is, whether there is a personal connection or if it is a creative energy that is so positive, but these guys always do their best work with these certain directors. I think with Jon and Chris, Jon pushes Chris to another level. Chris probably works harder than anyone I have known, but Jon is able to focus Chris’s energy in a way so that he gets more.